Senior Corporate Communications Manager (12 month maternity cover)

We have a 12 month fixed term contract available based at our Surrey Police HQ, Mount Browne, Guildford to manage one of our award winning teams within Corporate Communications.

Our senior positions are expected to be omni-competent across audiences and channels and there is one job description. However, it is recognised that individuals may have particular communication specialisms, and our team structure reflects this.

For this role we are looking for a person who has the experience and confidence to manage our busy news desk, who knows how to get our message directly to the public with sophisticated audience targeting, who can ensure we have effective relationships with the media, and is as good at spotting and managing risk as you are at increasing public engagement and behaviour change with both our reactive appeals and our proactive communications. You will be running communication campaigns externally and internally and managing crisis in a fast paced organisation.

Starting salary between GBP34,809 and GBP52,212 depending on experience.

Working for us offers you a unique opportunity to make a difference and really contribute to the safe policing of our community. We're a smaller Force than many but it means we have a personal feel and we take the wellbeing and development of our staff seriously.

We are, however, a fast moving and dynamic Force and offer you the opportunity to progress quickly and move around in your career. This financial year alone we'll have recruited over 200 new police staff across a variety of roles from our Contact Handling Centre to Forensics, Investigations and Custody.

You'll have access to continuous professional development, the opportunity to specialise and develop in your career as well as some of the more traditional benefits such as flexible working, generous annual leave entitlement, free parking and a highly competitive contributory pension scheme.

The Role

Working in a department that supports frontline policing means that two days are rarely the same. One day your team could be dealing with a major incident that affects the whole county, the next you could be dealing with an issue that poses a significant reputational risk to the Force. Either way, you'll be busy and challenged on a daily basis in your efforts to produce high quality, accurate and timely communications that support Force priorities.
Daily activity is varied and could include managing the communication response for major crimes such as murders, overseeing significant court cases, advising senior officers and producing accompanying communication strategies, as well as creatively promoting good results and initiatives through a variety of channels.

As a senior comms manager you'll be helping your team juggle a number of priority projects as well as leading on your own strategic work. You will be ensuring that we are running an effective news desk and on-call rota that provides 24/7 coverage. You'll regularly be advising senior stakeholders so your skills at building successful working relationships and influencing will be key.

All our senior comms managers are expected to lead a team of Communications Officers in the department, ensuring they are supported and developed and have clear direction and supervision as well as being inspired to be the best they can be by the way you lead the team.

The department is innovative and we've won a number of awards that prove the rest of the industry agrees. We have the backing of our senior officers to really push creative boundaries and if you've got a great idea it will be listened to. Examples of work that our department has been involved in include a child grooming publicity campaign, supporting a major change programme to deliver local policing differently, assisting with a man-hunt to find a double murder suspect and working with our partners on major incidents such as flooding.

Key Responsibilities

Manage the long-term, proactive and reactive tasking of the team, prioritising demand in line with agreed criteria and departmental focus and priorities in order to provide focus and maximise the impact of communications activity, manage and mitigate risk and make best use of resources available, including the provision of a 24/7 on call function.

Develop and manage the implementation of annual plans of communications activity.

Build and develop expertise in public and staff engagement and advocacy, and crisis communication management, providing advice to business leads and communications staff in order to raise capability within the Force and the department in these areas of practice.

Work with the Digital Communication Manager to identify and develop new communications channels and improve existing channels in order to enable increased effectiveness of messaging and increased value for money in delivering communications, and allow the Force to exploit emerging communications methods.

Oversee the quality and timeliness of communications produced by the team, ensuring that key messages and content are drafted in the best way to impact behaviour amongst the public in relation to crime and safety and build staff advocacy.

Manage high profile or high risk and opportunity issues where there may be a communication impact, including the provision of communication advice to the Chief Officer Group and other senior stakeholders in order to ensure the most effective approach is taken.

Build and manage relationships with partner organisations.

Manage a corporate communications team, overseeing performance management and capability development of team members in order to enable an appropriate mix of skills to deliver communications support effectively and efficiently.

Deputise for the Head of Corporate Comms at meetings when necessary or appropriate.

Provide training to a variety of audiences on communication specialism as appropriate.

Skills & Experience
You need to have credible previous experience in a communications role at a similar level. Whatever your background, your knowledge of media law is sound and as well as being comfortable dealing with reactive enquiries, you also need to help shape the news agenda by finding positive news stories and seizing opportunities to promote the work of the Force. A natural newshound, you know how to help your team identify what will interest their audience depending on the channel they use and won't rest until the story has reached far and wide. You also already know what makes great internal communications and have multiple examples working across the communication specialisms. Whether it's advising on the best way to deliver difficult messages or devising a comprehensive comms plan for multiple channels and audiences, you are a skilled communicator in multiple situations. A related degree would be great for both roles but don't be put off if that isn't the path you have taken - we're much more interested in you as a person and the contribution you could make. You need to have good technical skills and be proficient at using a range of channels and publishing to websites. It goes without saying that you know how to craft a great tweet or blog post but what else can you do? The jobs involve a lot of contact with stakeholders at various levels inside and outside the organisation so you should be comfortable operating at different levels and providing professional advice and service. You are flexible, positive, willing to get stuck in and support your colleagues and take pride in being organised and tenacious. It's a busy department so your ability to use your initiative to hit the ground running and juggle a varied workload would definitely set you up for success here. The job involves travel around Surrey and sometimes to sites in Sussex and other places too so you need to have access to a car and be able to drive.

Diversity Statement

We are committed to creating a diverse police service, which reflects the community we serve. We value diversity and inclusion and want to attract the best people for the roles available, regardless of age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability, social status or religious beliefs.

Additional Information

It is essential that the post holder has:

Degree or equivalent communication qualification

Significant experience in managing a communication function in a high-profile, high risk and fast paced environment and a broad understanding and experience of the whole range of communications functions required for the Force.

Significant experience of developing and implementing proactive communication plans based on the organisation's/department's strategy and experience of developing reactive communication strategies and plans to effectively manage challenging issues.

A thorough understanding of communication channels and their use in effective public relations and staff advocacy.

Experience of working in a range of communications roles and knowledge of targeting and evaluation methodologies.

Experience of managing a team of professionals.

Advanced negotiating and influencing, verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate evidence, implications and complex concepts.

An understanding of the policing context, with the ability to shape messaging that will engage the public and staff.

Full driving licence and access to a car for business use.

Salary: GBP34,809. Date posted: 02/06/2017